GALANTINES, BALLOTINES, ETC

Galantines are so useful and handsome a dish in a large family, or one where many visitors are received, that it is well worth while to learn the art of boning birds in order to achieve them. Nor, if the amateur cook is satisfied with the unambitious mode of boning hereafter to be described, need the achievement be very difficult.

Experts bone a bird whole without breaking the skin, but to accomplish it much practice is required; and even where it is desirable to preserve the shape of the bird, as when it is to be braised, or roasted and glazed for serving cold, it can be managed with care if boned the easier way. However, if nice white milk-fed veal can be obtained, a very excellent galantine may be made from it, and to my mind to be preferred to fowl, because, as a matter of fact, when boned there is such a thin sheet of meat that it but serves as a covering for the force-meat (very often sausage-meat), and although it makes a savory and handsome dish, it really is only glorified sausage-meat, much easier to produce in some other way. This is, of course, not the case with turkey; but a boned turkey is so large a dish that a private family might find it too much except for special occasions. On the other hand, galantines of game, although the birds may be still smaller, are so full of flavor that it overwhelms that of the dressing.

The following process of boning, however, applies to all birds. To accomplish the work with ease and success, a French boning-knife is desirable, but in the absence of one a sharp-pointed case-knife may do. Place the bird before you, breast down, with the head towards you. Cut a straight line down the back through skin and flesh to the bone. Release with the left thumb and forefinger the skin and flesh on the left side nearest to you, and with the right hand keep cutting away the flesh from the bone, pulling it away clear as it is cut with the left hand. When you reach the wing joint cut it clean away, leaving the bone in the wing, and continue cutting with the knife close to the bone until all the meat from the left breast is released. Return to the back and continue to separate the meat from the bone, always keeping the edge of the knife pressed close to the latter, until the leg is reached; twist it round, which will enable you to get the skin over it, and cut the joint from the body bone. Proceed with the right side in the same way, using your left hand for cutting and your right to free the meat (to some this would be very awkward, and when it is so turn the bird round). The bird will now be clear of the carcass. Lay the bird flat on the board, inside upward, then cut out the wing-bone and proceed to the legs; cut the meat on the inside of each thigh down to the bone and clear the meat from it, cutting it each side until you can lift the bone out; then free the drumstick in the same way.

If it be intended to stuff the bird in form, it would be necessary to bone the leg and wings from the inside, but for a galantine it is useless trouble, as they are to be drawn inside the bird. Spread out the bird, having drawn legs and wings inside, season with a teaspoonful of salt and half a saltspoonful of white pepper mixed together, and rubbed over the flesh, which must have been made as even as possible by cutting the thick parts and spreading them over the thin ones. If there are any bits of meat clinging to the bones they must be carefully gathered together and chopped with a pound of veal and two ounces of lean cold boiled ham, with four ounces of fat, sweet, salt pork. (Butter may be substituted if pork is objected to). When all is chopped as fine as sausage-meat, season rather highly with pepper and salt. Spread a layer an inch thick over the bird; then add some long strips of tongue, some black truffles cut into dice half an inch square, and a few pistachio nuts. Dispose these, which may be called the ornamental adjuncts of the galantine, judiciously, so that when cut cold they will be well distributed. Cover carefully with another layer of force-meat, fold both sides over so that the force-meat will be well enclosed, form it into a bolster-shaped roll, tie it up in a linen cloth securely with string at each end, and sew the cloth evenly along the middle, so that the shape will keep even. Put it into a stewpan with stock enough to cover it, two onions, two carrots sliced, a stick of celery, a small bunch of parsley, a dozen peppercorns, an ounce of salt, and the bones of the bird, well cracked. Let it _simmer gently_ for three hours and a half. Take it up, strain the liquor, and let the galantine get nearly cold. Take off the cloth; wring it quite dry; put it on again, rolling the galantine as tight as possible; tie firmly, and place it on a platter; cover with another platter, and place a heavy weight upon it to press it into shape. Let the stock get c

_Ballotines_ are small galantines made by treating small birds as directed in last recipe, only that the force-meat should have a larger proportion of truffles, and be made of the same kind of bird; for instance, grouse would have rich force-meat of grouse. One grouse, however, would make two or four ballotines; quails make two, to be served as individuals.

_Galantine of Breast of Veal._--Bone a breast of young white veal very carefully, spread it out as flat as possible on the board, pare the meat at the ends for about an inch so that the skin may project beyond. Take all the scraps of meat that may have come from boning, provided they are not sinewy; take also twelve ounces of veal cutlet, and half the quantity of fat unsmoked bacon. Chop very fine, seasoning all rather highly. When the meat is fine, season the inside of the veal. Mix with the force-meat tongue, truffles, and pistachio-nuts or olives, all cut into half-inch dice (the tongue larger). So mix these that they will come at regular intervals through the stuffing. Roll the breast round the stuffing, which is not spread, but laid in a mass, and sew the veal together. Fasten it up in a cloth, tie securely at the ends, then tie bands of tape round at intervals to keep it in shape.

Braise this galantine for six hours in stock, which may be made of a small knuckle of veal and the bones and trimmings. Vegetables as directed for chicken galantine.

Let the galantine be cold before it is untied. Garnish and glaze as directed for chicken.

Galantine is occasionally made of sucking pig, and is very popular in France. The pig must be carefully boned, all but the head and feet. A sufficient quantity of veal, of fat unsmoked bacon, and of bread panada must be chopped and pounded to make enough force-meat to stuff the pig in the proportion of one part bacon, two panada, and three of veal, seasoned with a teaspoonful of onion juice and two of powdered sage.

The pig's liver must have been boiled in stock, and cut in dice. There must be fillets or strips of rabbit or chicken, a few chopped truffles and olives. Mix well. Lay in the fillets as you stuff the pig, and when full sew up the opening. Try to keep the shape as near as possible. Then braise slowly for four to five hours, as directed for galantine of veal. Do not remove the cloth till it is cold.

HOW TO "FILLET."--COLD GAME PIES.

I have spoken several times of "filleting." To some readers an explanation of the term may be necessary. To "cut up" a bird does not indicate the meaning, nor does the term "to carve" it do so, because to carve means to cut up or divide with an exact observance of joints and "cuts." Filleting, when applied to anything without bones, as the breast of a bird or boned fish, means to cut into very neat strips that are thicker than slices; but when you are directed to "fillet" a grouse or a chicken, it is intended that you should cut it into small neat portions regardless of joints and without the least mangling of it; therefore a very sharp knife must be used, and either a small sharp cleaver or a large cook's knife only to be employed when a bone has to be cut through.

_To Fillet Cooked Birds: Grouse, Pheasants, or Poultry._--Cut the bird in half straight down the middle of the breast-bone, using a large sharp knife for the purpose. Lay each half on the table and take out the breast-bone from either side. If the bird is a large fowl, duck, or partridge, each breast will make three fillets, and leave a good piece with the wing, but average birds only make two breast fillets. Chop off the pinions within an inch of the meat, then cut the wing in two neatly; drumsticks are to be chopped off close to the meat, and divided into two fillets (if a large chicken or duck; leave game whole); cut the thigh in two also. Trim very neatly; leave no hanging skin; indeed, when filleting for _chaudfroids_ the skin should be entirely removed, and both it and the leg-bones are removed for pies. When possible, it is better not to use the drumsticks. From a chicken they make an admirable "devil," and from game they help the bones and trimmings to make a rich gravy; so it is no waste to discard them.

Cold pies are of two kinds: the one cooked in a terrine or dish without pastry; the other in what the English call a "raised paste," and the French a _pate chaude_. Those with paste--which is seldom eaten--are far handsomer, but do not keep so well--that is to say, they must be eaten within three or four days even in winter; while in a terrine carefully kept in a cool airy place the pie will be good at the end of three weeks.

On the other hand, the pie in a terrine is much less trouble to make. Proceed as follows:

_Game Pie._--Make some force-meat thus: Fry a quarter of a pound of fat ham cut in dice with half a pound of lean veal. Take the ham up before it gets brown, as you do not need it crisp; when the veal is cooked take that up also, and if there is enough of the ham fat in the pan, put in half a pound of calf's liver cut up in dice, if not, saute it in butter. In sauteing all these they must be often stirred, as you want them well cooked and yet not very brown. When done they must be finely chopped, then pounded in a mortar, with a small teaspoonful of salt, and half a saltspoonful of pepper. Then add a dozen mushrooms chopped, and mix the whole.

A game pie is usually made rather large, and the greater variety of game used, the better; partridge, pheasant, grouse, hare, all help one another, but at least two kinds are necessary. It must be boned and neatly filleted into small joints. Put on all the bones and trimmings to stew in three pints of water, with a good-sized carrot, onion, a stick of celery, a small bouquet, a clove, a teaspoonful of sugar, one of salt, and a little pepper; boil all this until the bones look white and dry when out of the stock. Strain, and reduce by rapid boiling to a half-glaze; put a layer of the force-meat at the bottom of the dish, then one of boned game, with a sprinkling of pepper and salt, and either a little finely chopped parsley or, what is far better, a few thin slices of truffles; pour over a little of the reduced stock; fill the dish in this way to within an inch of the top; make a plain flour-and-water paste, lay it on the pie, and make a hole in the centre, bake slowly in a pan of hot water. When cold, remove the paste, cover the top with chopped aspic, fold a napkin, and serve the terrine on it, with a wreath of parsley round the base. Game pie is not a dish to be eaten at one or even two meals (unless very small), therefore the aspic must be fresh each time it is served.

_French Method of Making a Game Pie or Pate Chaude._--Make a paste of two pounds of flour and one of lard or butter, with salt to taste and about half a pint of water; knead it into a smooth, rather hard paste; put it into a damp napkin for an hour. Butter a raised pie dish--a tin one that opens to release the pie--line it with the paste rolled half an inch thick, letting it come half an inch above the dish; line the inside of the paste with buttered paper, bottom and sides, and fill with rice or corn meal; cover with another piece of buttered paper, wet the top of the pastry all round, and lay a cover of thin pastry over it; trim very neatly, make a hole in the centre, and ornament with leaves cut from the paste and laid on; the under side should be slightly moistened to make them adhere. Brush the surface with well-beaten egg, and bake about an hour, when it should be a nice golden brown. Take off the cover; after it has slightly cooled, remove the rice or meal and the buttered paper; take the case from the mould, and brush it all over with egg inside and out; set it in the oven until the glazing dries, and any part that may not be sufficiently brown becomes the color of the cover, which, being glazed at first, is not returned to the oven.

_Preparation for Filling the Case._--Fillet chickens, guinea-hens, partridges, or grouse (leave pigeons or quails whole, but bone them). Put sufficient pieces of one sort, or all sorts mixed, to fill the pate chaude case into a saute pan, with two ounces of butter, and saute till lightly colored. Take them out, and put them in a stewpan with a quart of reduced consomme, half a pint of mushrooms sliced, a dozen truffles cut into dice (half-inch), a teaspoonful of salt, a little pepper, and a wineglass of sherry, and let them simmer very gently, _not boil_, for half an hour, or until very tender. Let them cool, and when lukewarm arrange them in the pate case, leaving the centre hollow, which fill with mushrooms and truffles. The liquor in which they were stewed must be then poured over them. The cover of a pate chaude case is often not used, and aspic jelly covers the top of the pie.

_English Manner of Making Game Pie in a Crust._--Use at least two kinds of game, which for this purpose must not be long kept; high game is acceptable to epicures when roasted or stewed, but never in a pie. Discard all parts blackened by shot. Cut into neat joints, from which bones must be removed. Take all the fragments from the carcass after the breast and joints are removed, and the flesh of a small bird or hare, or, failing that, some calf's liver fried in dice; pound whichever you may have for force-meat in a mortar with four ounces of bacon that has been boiled; when the whole forms a paste (from which you have removed all strings, sinew, or gristle while pounding), season with pepper and salt--a teaspoonful of salt to a pound of force-meat, and a scant half saltspoonful of pepper. Put on the bones, _without vegetables_, in cold water to simmer until it is a rich broth, which strain, and boil rapidly till a little set on ice in a saucer will jelly. Make what is called "raised" paste in the following way: To two pounds of flour use three quarters of a pound of butter and half a pint of scalding milk; pour this into a hole in the centre of the flour, and knead into a firm paste, adding a little more milk if necessary (but it seldom is). This paste is not to be rolled, but beaten out with the hand while warm to half an inch thickness. Line a well-buttered meat-pie mould, with a hinge opening at the side; leave half an inch of paste above the mould; trim off neatly with scissors. Then lay in the game and force-meat in alternate layers, seasoning the joints with pepper and salt as you lay them. A few slices of tongue and truffles to form one layer are desirable. When the mould is full, lay on the cover, moisten the under edge, and pinch round in tiny scallops. Make a hole in the centre, round which put an ornament; stick in a bone to prevent the hole closing, and bake two to four hours in a moderate oven, according to size, remembering always that the crust will no

GARNISHES.

In all choice cookery the appearance of dishes has to be carefully studied. However good the taste may be, the effect will be spoiled if its appearance on the table does not come up to the expectation raised by the name on the _menu_. For this reason the subject of garnishes requires to be considered apart from the dishes they adorn. In the old time garnishes were few and simple, and when not simple, very ugly, as the camellias cut from turnips and stained with beet juice. Nowadays garnishes are many, and many so termed form part of the dish, as what are termed, "floating garnishes for soup," quenelles, etc. Garnishes that are merely ornamental need not be so expensively made as those intended for eating. Foremost among fashionable floating garnishes for soup are the colored custards known as pate royale; they are perfectly easy to make, yet very effective served in clear bouillon.

_Colored Custard._--Prepare the custard with five yolks of eggs, a gill of cream or strong bouillon, and a pinch of salt; butter small saucers or cups; divide the custard in three--color one with spinach juice or pulp of green asparagus, another with red tomato pulp or the pulp of red carrot boiled, and a third with pulp of beets. A few drops of cochineal may be added to intensify the color of the last, which is apt to be a beautiful pink instead of red. The custard for which pulps are used must be strained after they are added, expressing as much of the juice as possible. The custard should be flavored delicately with the vegetable used for color.

_Spinach Juice_ is very frequently directed to be used as coloring, but scarcely anywhere is any indication given that the juice without preparation is of very little use. It should be prepared as follows: Take a large handful of fresh green spinach, wash it, and remove decayed leaves only; drain well, then pound in a mortar or chopping-bowl until quite mashed. Let it stand a quarter of an hour, then squeeze the mass in a cloth, and put the green water into a cup, which set over the fire in a small saucepan of water; watch the scum rise; when it stands quite thick at the top and turns a vivid green, remove at once (if it remains on the fire after this the green darkens); pour the contents of the cup through cheese-cloth or thin muslin laid in a strainer. The scum that remains is your coloring matter. It must be carefully scraped off with a spoon, and mix with the custard only as much as is required to give a delicate green tint. If any is left it may be mixed with an equal quantity of salt and put away; it loses color, however, after a few days.

The colored custards must be set in water, a small piece of buttered paper over each, and the water allowed to boil gently round them till they are firm. Let them get quite cold; then cut them into cubes or diamonds.

_Profiterolles._--Perhaps the next in popularity of these floating garnishes are _profiterolles_, or "prophet's rolls," as cooks call them. They are made exactly like those intended for dessert, omitting sweetening of course, and a very small quantity is required, as they must be dropped no larger than a pea, and baked a _pale_ fawn-color.

Put a gill of water and a pinch of salt and two ounces of butter in a small saucepan; as soon as they begin to boil draw the saucepan back and stir in four ounces of flour; beat well over the fire with a wooden spoon until it becomes a soft paste, then add the yolks of two eggs and white of one, beating each yolk in separately. It will be seen that the paste is similar to that made for cream cakes.

A similar garnish is made in the following way: Beat an egg with a pinch of salt, and then stir in as much dry sifted flour as the egg will moisten; work it well with the hands till it is elastic, although stiff. Roll it on a pastry board until it is as thin as paper, then roll it on a clean linen cloth still thinner, and leave it a quarter of an hour to dry. Then fold the paste, press it very tightly together, and with a tin cylinder, not larger in diameter than a cent, cut out, with considerable pressure, as many small disks as you require to allow five or six to each plate of soup. Have ready in a small saucepan some _smoking hot_ lard. Drop the disks in; they will puff and swell till they are like marbles. Stir them, and take them out of the fat; they require only a few seconds to brown, and must be taken out very pale. Add to the soup the last thing before serving.

While aspic jelly is certainly the handsomest of garnishes for cold dishes, it is generally part of the food itself, and should not be so lavishly used that when helped there is more jelly than meat served. Where the jelly is intended only for a garnish not to be eaten, simple gelatine is sufficient. For instance, a large platter containing a galantine or a _chaudfroid_ may have a handsome wreath glued on the border, of red and green leaves, or holly leaves and red berries, or any device that need not be disturbed by the carver.

For such decorations as these gelatine is melted in proportion of three ounces to a scant quart of water, cleared with white of egg, and then colored pale yellow with caramel or saffron, vivid red with cochineal, and bright green with spinach; it saves time and trouble to let this congeal on dishes in thin sheets. Small cutters of ivy, oak, and other leaves can readily be purchased at the large house-furnishing stores.

One word here about uneatable decorations, never admit them at a children's party; they are the very part of the feast the little people will most crave; red leaves for them must be of red currant-jelly, yellow of white, etc.

"Forced butter" is another form of garnish which adds much to the appearance of glazed ham or tongue. It is butter beaten to a white cream, then put in a forcer, and a pattern traced on the ham, which must be followed just as in icing a cake.

_A Few Ways of Cooking Vegetables._--It is not intended to go into the general cooking of vegetables, although it may be said that even the choicest cooking can offer no greater luxury, or, alas! a greater rarity, than a dish of early peas or asparagus _perfectly cooked_. But this is not the place to remedy the wholesale spoiling of summer vegetables that goes on in almost every kitchen. I will only give what may be a few new ways of preparing familiar vegetables.

_Stuffed Artichokes._--Wash the artichokes; boil till nearly tender; drain them; remove the middle leaves and "chokes" (this is the fibrous part round the base); lay in each a little rich force-meat, and put them in the oven to cook until the meat is done. Serve with rich brown gravy.

_Fried Artichokes._--Cut in slices lengthwise; remove the chokes, cut off the tops of the leaves, wash them in vinegar and water, drain them, and dip them in frying batter. Fry in very hot oil or lard. Serve with fried parsley sprinkled with salt.

_Beet-root Fritters._--Cut boiled beets in slices; slice raw onions; scald them; dry them well; then lay one slice of onion, sprinkled with chopped chervil, pepper, and salt, between two slices of beet. Dip them carefully in frying batter, and plunge into boiling fat; when pale brown take them up.

_Cauliflower Fritters._--Parboil the cauliflower--that is to say, boil until it begins to be tender--about fifteen minutes; then plunge it into ice-cold water; this keeps it white. Break it up into branches. Dip each one into thick bechamel sauce slightly warmed; let them get cold; then take each piece separately and dip it into carefully made frying batter, and drop them into boiling lard; fry a pale brown, and serve garnished with fried parsley.